Electrical rate "ping-pong" likely to continue

SPRINGFIELD -- The next legislative skirmish on what to do about soaring electricity prices could happen as soon as today (Wednesday).

Adriana Colindres

By ADRIANA COLINDRES

STATE CAPITOL BUREAU

SPRINGFIELD -- The next legislative skirmish on what to do about soaring electricity prices could happen as soon as today (Wednesday).

The state Senate is positioning itself for a possible committee vote on rate-freeze legislation that the House approved earlier this year. That measure, House Bill 1750, would roll back electric rates to their 2006 levels, freeze them for at least three years and refund consumers the extra money they’ve been paying because of higher rates.

The House, meanwhile, is poised to vote on the latest version of Senate Bill 1592, which would impose a tax on power generators, including those supplying electricity to the Ameren Illinois utility companies and Commonwealth Edison. That legislation also would roll back electric rates to their 2006 levels, freeze them for a year and require the utility companies to give refunds to consumers.

Since last fall, the Senate and House have debated the best way to help consumers who got hit this year with higher electric rates because a long-standing rate freeze expired. The freeze was part of the state’s 1997 electric deregulation law.

So far, the legislative chambers have been unable to agree on a solution, though each has passed different rate-freeze bills.

Sen. James Clayborne, a Belleville Democrat who is the Senate’s point person on electricity, said Tuesday that HB1750 might be amended today (Wednesday) to shorten the duration of the freeze. But the measure would remain as is in other ways: It would apply to both Commonwealth Edison and Ameren, and it would not include a new tax on power generators.

Sen. Gary Forby, D-Benton, said he wants the Senate to vote for HB1750 in its present form. If the Senate OKs the legislation as is, it would go to the governor’s desk. But if the Senate makes any changes, those would have to be considered and approved in the House before going to the governor.

“This playing ping-pong back and forth is a game I’m getting tired of,” Forby said.

If the General Assembly ultimately agrees on some kind of rate-freeze legislation, it would be rejecting a $500 million rate-relief package that Ameren Illinois and Commonwealth Edison have offered for the next three years.

But in exchange for the rate-relief package, the utility companies want assurances that lawmakers won’t reinstitute a rate freeze or impose a generator tax.

Clayborne favors accepting rate relief from the utility companies rather than imposing a rate freeze that he believes likely would wind up the subject of a court battle. But he said that not all of his legislative colleagues share the same view.

“The issue is, that in order to get the (rate relief) money, you’ve got to agree not to call a rate freeze or generation tax. That has not been agreed to,” he said.

“So we just can’t sit here and not do anything. The only choice is to stand up and say we’re not going to call a rate freeze or a generation tax, or the other option is to pass a rate freeze."

Adriana Colindres can be reached at (217) 782-6292 or adriana.colindres@sj-r.com.